Nuance** – Duffel

After a great personal experience in 2011 in Restaurant Nuance Duffel we decided with the Be-Gusto Club members to put Nuance on the agenda for 2012. Most of the friends had this restaurant from Chef Thierry Theys on their restaurant wish list, which made the dinner choice very easy. Nuance all the way…

The young Chef, Thierry Theys, is already an established name in the Belgian gourmet industry. In 2010 he was appointed by Gault Millau as Young Chef of the Year and currently he is rewarded with 17/20 in the new directory. Also Michelin rewarded restaurant Nuance very quickly and just one year after the first star* they followed with a second** star. Before opening together with his wife in 2008, restaurant Nuance, he gathered experience at Beluga in Maastricht and Bar et Boeuf from Alain Ducasse in Monaco. Today you can also admire his nuances at Flanders njam! TV. His cuisine is notable for the daring use of contrasts, both in taste and colour. We recognize a lot of intense flavours in all dishes and highly sophisticated touches. For a table on weekends it is best to book months in advance but an experience Nuance is more than worth it!

Nuance interior

The menu shows a small à la carte choice but at Nuance we recommend to go for the menu “smaaknuances”, 5-course for 80€ or 6-course for 95€. Our group was determined we want to taste every essence of the proposed menu together with the suggested wines from sommelier “Steven Wullaert”. In 2011 Steven got the Silver medal as Best Sommelier of Belgium.

Together with the Rosé “Ruinart”, we were served a full menu of great amuses. Hard to taste, picture and write down but an excellent start of the evening amongst friends.

Mackerel with flavours of soy

Mackerel & soy

Oriental salmon, cream of yoghurt and an emulsion of sushi rice

Crispy black bread with sardines & cucumber

Sardines & cucumber

Oyster from “Zeeland” with granite of sparkling wine, almonds and green beans. This appetizer was delicious we spontaneously started all dreaming of a plateau with oysters style Nuance.

Oyster, granité & green beans

Feta cheese with parts and cream of green tomato

Feta cheese & green tomato

1) Fresh Prawn with a tartar of prawns, herbal cream, tofu, cucumber & prawn cracker. This first starter was combined with a great white Viognier “Les Pilliers”. A biological wine from the most southern part of the Rhône valley,Costières de Nîmes AOC.

Prawn, herbs and cucumber

2) Langoustine with a soufflé of langoustine, structures of radish, sauce of radish and Young sprouts. Again a lovely combination with an excellent wine pairing. Steven served a Portuguese wine, Floral, from the alvarino grape in Vinho Verde.

Langoustine and radish

3) Fillet of Brill with white asparagus, sepia, sea lavender and a sauce of Brill with lemon. Served with a full body wine from Alsace, Marcel Deiss.

Fillet of Brill and sepia

Ambiance and alcohol percentage are increasing as we are used to!

The tasting team

4) Inland veal with morels, garlic croquette, sugar peas, romanesco cauliflower and pizza of veal Carpaccio. Flavors and textures were nicely balanced and for this dish Steven served a great Hungarian wine, a pinot noir Apatsagi Pannonhalmi.

Veal, romanesco & morels

5) Passion fruit, olive oil and white chocolate.

Passion fruit, white chocolate & olive oil

6) Strawberry in different “Nuances”

Strawberry nuances

After dinner coffee-tizers were again mouth watering! Mmm the sweet fine lard balls…

Lard balls

The service in restaurant Nuance, is supervised by the charming wife of Thierry Theys and despite her young age, the team is perfectly lead and directed. An eye for every detail. Being one of the first warm days of the year we noticed that the temperature was to high in our corner or was it the level of alcohol?

Chef Thierry Theys is showcasing in restaurant Nuance live what he does best- excellent, creative and innovative cooking, combining intriguing and complex flavors to great perfection. A great two star tasting menu in an elegant surrounding.